itch.io

From the v8 change log: "Put a Data Storage into the bot's inventory and Backup/Restore will show up in their script panel."

Suggestion: The current interface for crude data storage is kind of clunky/unintuitive. I was eventually able to find out how to use them by digging through the change logs, but for a while I just assumed that they weren't implemented yet.

I think that one possible alternative way to use the data storage would be to left- (or right-) click on an inactive bot to open up a screen similar to the bot teaching screen, but with a second panel on the right showing the program stored on the disk, and two buttons to save to and load from the disk. (The buttons could either be "save"/"load" or stylized `->`/`<-` buttons.)

Oh, I had missed the fact that each autosave went into its own file. Glad to know the suggestion wasn't as silly as I first thought. :P

So, it's not a huge thing, but have you considered having your save files be gzip-compressed json instead of raw json? I just tried compressing one of my saves (using WinZip, but same idea) on a whim, and it went from 900KB to 70KB. I know both save files are pretty small in absolute terms, but I have a habit of making a new save file on each save in case I mess something up, so it adds up.

If you're worried about save backwards-compatibility, you can save the new files as [name].aut or something, and still parse [name].txt files as raw json. (And maybe have an option to save in the uncompressed format for people who want to fiddle with the save files.)

Ooooh. I'm eagerly awaiting this Friday, then. :)

Less of a bug report and more of a feature request: It would be nice to have a "Repeat until X storage more full than Y storage." (Either by raw number or by percent storage full would work for me.)

Motivation: When I add automation for producing a new resource, it sometimes drains my supplies for the whole pipeline until that resource is full. (In a concrete example, when I added metal / metal plate production, it consumed all of my coal, which in turn consumed all of my logs.) I can add a "repeat while [ingredient] storage full", but that just moves the problem somewhere else. Having a way to balance production based on available inputs would be helpful. Then again, maybe this is moving the robot scripting language too close to a full-blown programming language (with variables and comparisons and the like), and I'm not sure how you feel about that design-wise.

That sounds like a good solution to me, too. No rush; I really like the game so far! :)

I was reading through the change log and I saw the fix "If you used LMB on a worker while you were teaching it, it would produce recharging instructions."

I was actually very happy when I found that, and considered it a feature. Because I tend to keep a network of recharging bots covering all my other bots, it can be a hassle to actually get a dead bot when I want to train new charger bots.  Would it be possible to add an easier way to train recharging bots? It doesn't have to be the old way, but something easy/straightforward would be nice. Or does this exist already and I just don't know about it?

Thanks; that's perfect.

Where is the bug list? Searching through that would probably be easier than trying to comb through this thread.

I've found a bug  in version 9.1. I've looked through the past couple pages of this thread and didn't see it being previously reported, but I could have missed it.

When two bots are set to place an object into a currently-full storage, and you take one object out of the storage, only one succeeds in placing the object in storage, but they both move to the next task in their program, so the other bot is still holding an object and its program gets thrown off. (My two bots are at separate storage boxes, in case that's important.)